Friday, January 20, 2006

Congratulations, Jan!

Speaking of my former partners, I want to extend a long-overdue congratulations to my former partner Jan T. Chilton, also of Severson & Werson. On November 8, Jan presented oral argument before the United States Supreme Court in one of the first cases to be argued before Chief Justice John Roberts. And on December 7, in his first opinion for the Court, Chief Justice Roberts handed Jan a complete and total win. Martin v. Franklin Capital, 546 U.S. ___ (Dec. 7, 2005). A copy of Jan's winning brief is accessible here, the transcript of the argument is here, and SCOTUSblog's post-argument report is here. The case involved whether the plaintiff can recover attorneys' fees for winning a motion to remand a case that was improperly removed to federal court. The decision will increase in importance as more and more cases are removed under CAFA. Jan is the best brief-writer I have ever encountered. I learned a great deal about appellate advocacy and legal writing from working with him.